FORT MYERS, Fla. – The Twins’ new player representative believes Major League Baseball’s drug testing system is flawed. Milwaukee Brewers slugger’s Ryan Braun positive test for performance-enhancing drugs never should have been made public, Glen Perkins said Friday.

Positive results are supposed to be confidential until after a player appeal.

“That’s a minimal expectation of the testing program,” said Perkins, who took over as player rep after Kevin Slowey was traded this winter.

Under the drug testing agreement between the players’ union and ownership, a suspension is to be announced only after an unsuccessful appeal. That way, a player who successfully defends himself never is linked to steroids.

Braun, whose positive test result was leaked less than three weeks after he was named National League most valuable player, won his grievance by a 2-1 vote Thursday. He won because MLB reportedly violated the terms of handling his urine specimen.

“He appealed and won, but he still lost,” Perkins said. “The flaw is that some way, somehow, that (positive test result) got out. I don’t know who leaked it. He got exonerated from the suspension, but he didn’t get cleared from the accusation.”

Asked if confidentiality needs to be addressed before the next collective bargaining agreement, Perkins said, “That seems to me like it’s going to have to be addressed before that.”

In a statement released Friday evening, MLBPA director Michael Weiner said he doesn’t believe MLB is directly responsible for the leak.

“The breach of confidentiality associated with this matter is unfortunate,” he said. “But, after investigation, we are confident that it was not caused by the Commissioner’s office, the MLBPA or anyone associated in any way with the program. In all other respects, the appeals process worked as designed.”

‘Cane connection

A handful of Twins expressed little more than passing interest in the Braun decision, including manager Ron Gardenhire. But third baseman Danny Valencia, Braun’s University of Miami Hurricanes teammate, declined to answer questions regarding Braun other than to say: “I’m just happy he got exonerated. The truth came out.”

Us vs. Them

In his annual spring training speech, Gardenhire apparently went with the “us-against-them” theme.

Asked if he got angry and hurt people’s feelings, which he had said would be possible, the manager said: “No, I was calm. I felt like a preacher. We just talked, talked baseball, talked about having fun, and I told everybody: ‘We’re through with last year. It’s over with, done with.’ ”

But as Gardenhire added more details of his speech, a clear theme emerged. He is using last season’s 99 losses, and the media beating that came with it, to rouse the troops.

“Our expectations are very high. We don’t care what anybody else says; we don’t really care what you write,” Gardenhire said. “You’re not going to have an impact on how we play; we’re going to have an impact on how we play. It’s not what people say, it’s about what we do – and that was explained to our baseball team.

“It’s about us, either getting it done or not getting it done. It doesn’t matter who says you can’t play; it’s between the lines (where) you get it done. People are going to have opinions; everybody does. Let them have them. That’s good. As far as people saying, ‘There’s no pressure; no one’s picking you…’ we don’t give a crap about that. That doesn’t help me one way or another.”

BRIEFLY

Tsuyoshi Nishioka took grounders at third base and relay throws at first Friday. General manager Terry Ryan said Nishioka, a middle infielder by trade, probably would get reps at third because the Twins need their utility men to play several positions. … Luke Hughes (shoulder) was limited but participated in fielding drills. Recovering from a sprain, he received a cortisone shot Wednesday. … Infielder Michael Hollomon was treated and sent home with the flu.

As you comment, please be respectful of other commenters and other viewpoints. Our goal with article comments is to provide a space for civil, informative and constructive conversations. We reserve the right to remove any comment we deem to be defamatory, rude, insulting to others, hateful, off-topic or reckless to the community. See our full terms of use here.

More in Sports

Nate Mason rolled down his sock and pulled up the cuff his compression pants to reveal a big bruise on his right shin during pregame warmups Wednesday at Williams Arena. The blue mark — from being tripped late in Monday’s loss to rival Wisconsin — was the latest hurdle of adversity heading into the senior guard’s final game at the...

FORT MYERS, Fla. — The final season of the franchise-record contract the Minnesota Twins gave Joe Mauer has begun, bringing with it the inevitable questions about his future. For now, before any such decisions must be made by the front office or the soon-to-be-35-year-old first baseman, Mauer has found himself in a reflective mood. He has started his 17th major...

There weren’t many positives to pull out of the Timberwolves’ home loss to Houston in the days leading up to the all-star break, the exception being the play of Minnesota’s starting point guard. Jeff Teague finished with 25 points, eight assists and five rebounds while taking 15 shots from the field. He was assertive but not selfish, a trademark of...

Safety Ken Handy-Holly has made a decision to leave the Gophers football team, a school spokesman said. The freshman from Jackson, Ala., had 12 tackles, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble in eight games last season. He had his redshirt removed after Antoine Winfield Jr., was injured in the Big Ten opener against Maryland on Sept. 30. Handy-Holly was rated...

Red Wing’s Taylor Heise had a high school hockey career for the books. The Gophers commit netted 67 goals this season and has more than 200 for her career. But she couldn’t get much of anything going in Wednesday’s Class A quarterfinal against Proctor/Hermantown, and neither could her teammates. The unseeded Mirage suffocated third-seeded Red Wing with physical play and...